General Purposes

About this grant

This grant will support the Southwest Center for Economic Integrity’s efforts to reform day-labor and associated industries in the Southwest. The goal of the center is to build better opportunities, improve working conditions and increase the incomes of low-wage workers.Multiyear funding will enable the center to pursue objectives that include developing a public policy education campaign on the poverty-creating consequences of payday lending in Arizona; cultivating broader alternatives to payday lending that are accessible for low-income families in Arizona; sharing the impact of payday lending in New Mexico; educating New Mexico policymakers about "fringe banking" reform measures; launching day-labor and "fringe-banking" research in Nevada; and analyzing public policy and market intervention strategies in Nevada.Recent activities included providing information from the New Mexico day-laborer survey to the New Mexico state legislature leading to legislation; establishing a nonprofit staffing agency in Albuquerque, New Mexico; providing information on payday lending to the Arizona state legislature; and assisting local credit unions in New Mexico to develop payday loan product alternatives accessible to low-wage families.